Corrected and updated May 31, 2019, at 2 p.m.
Frustration over delays in the construction of a new girls softball diamond on Ann Lees Road, simmering for days on Nextdoor Harvard, a Harvard-centric media platform, finally came to a boil this week.
More than 50 parents, coaches, and players filled upper Town Hall Tuesday night in an emotional appearance before the Select Board to voice their discontent with the project, winning an apology and promises to do better from two of the board’s members.
Meanwhile, a half-mile away, at a meeting of the School Committee in the Bromfield School library, members discussed how best to show support for the team and promised to attend an upcoming game or practice, responding to murmurs that lack of a playing field for girls softball smacked of a Title IX violation. The committee also heard from Parks and Recreation Commission member Bob O’Shea, who said his calculations showed that the new elementary school could accommodate a regulation softball field. He also asked that the School Committee appoint a member to help Parks and Rec craft a warrant article for Special Town Meeting this fall that would clarify who had jurisdiction over the town’s athletic fields.
The sudden outpouring of discontent began several days ago on Nextdoor with posts from residents questioning why the Bromfield varsity softball team had been left without a home field this season, some questioning whether the girls were being treated unequally given the availability of three baseball fields in town, one at Pond Road and two others on Ryan land at Depot Road. By Monday, softball and baseball supporters were being urged to attend the Tuesday night Select Board meeting and speak up at public comment.
Among the speakers were two members of the girls softball team, their coach, the president of the Harvard Youth Softball and Baseball Association (HYSBA), and other concerned citizens. Bromfield softball team captain Phillipa Harvey, a junior, said the lack of a home field was an embarrassment. The team never knew for sure where it would be playing in any given week, had no home field, and no consistent location for practice, which sometimes had to be held in the Bromfield gym. “It’s embarrassing to see how other Bromfield teams get treated and how we get treated,” she said. “When looking at the beautiful baseball fields and diligent maintenance crew, it cannot help but raise some questions about Title IX violations.”
Neglected and hurt
Tenth-grade center fielder Sadi Kieran echoed Harvey’s concerns. The team, which has lost every game this year, felt “neglected and hurt,“ she said. “The humiliation caused by this was an everyday occurrence,” and the team was mocked by other students. “The lack of communication, care or even apology deeply affected” the players, she added.
HYSBA President Larry Feinberg said that while the contractor would eventually be done, the job would be “far from done.” The dugouts are uncovered, he noted, the lack of outfield fences is a problem, and “there’s no discussion whatsoever about a budget for field maintenance.” He proposed the Select Board establish a “shared vision committee,” to put together a multiyear plan with a significant budget for all the town’s fields. And he recommended a paid, full-time Parks and Rec position be created to oversee it. “Play ball,” he concluded, to sustained applause.
Baseball booster and former Town Administrator Paul Cohen of Candleberry Lane agreed. “I think the solution is to form a committee in which to address and identify this problem in the community.” He said he had lived in town for 24 years. During this time “I have not seen any material investment in the fields,” he said. “I ask you to please put this on your agenda, bring it to the community, let the town develop a plan and act on it.” He said it “blows my mind” when he visits towns of Harvard’s size and sees the superior state of their fields.
Darren Magan, a former HYSBA leader, was the last to speak. “We don’t have enough fields in this town, we don’t have the right fields in this town, and two of them were just taken away, without our even being asked about them,” Magan said. He suggested that like the baseball community in town, softball supporters form a booster club to raise money and increase their leverage with the town boards. He said supporters of town athletics need to work together “as community” to solve problems, “but we really need your help,” he concluded, looking pointedly at the four Select Board members present and Town Administrator Tim Bragan.
Call for plan
When public comment ended, Select Board Chair Lucy Wallace thanked the speakers and promised to take their comments “under advisement.” She said the school building project had been a big challenge for the town, “but we will muddle through.”
“I don’t think we’ve addressed what they came here for,” said board member Rich Maiore. “It’s embarrassing and frustrating to me that they have to come here to get our attention.” The board needed to acknowledge it had collectively failed the softball team, he said, and needed to be very clear that it had a plan. “It’s not clear who has the ball. And I want to be clear who has that,” he said to applause. Board member Alice von Loesecke said she had asked that the Select Board make discussion of fields a priority at its upcoming strategic planning session in June. She said it was time to prepare a three-year plan for the athletic fields in town, and for the board to take a leadership role. “What we have been doing hasn’t been working. This is not the last you all will hear of this,” she said to applause.
The crisis began last spring when the town approved construction of a new elementary school. It was known at the time that work on the site would eliminate the Mass. Ave. softball field during construction, but there was no plan to restore a regulation field when building is complete. At a Special Town Meeting convened Oct. 22 last year, attendees voted $40,000 to construct a new softball field on conservation land at Ann Lees Road, “to be spent by the Director of Department of Public Works, with the approval of Parks and Recreation Commission.” DPW Director Tim Kilhart signed a contract for construction of a regulation softball field with Great Horizons Landscaping, the lower of two bidders, on
Dec. 14. The company agreed the work would be done by April 1. Now, two months later, the job continues to languish. Littleton Road resident Dan Daly, hoping to schedule a ribbon cutting, asked Kilhart earlier this month for an estimated completion date. “I can’t give you a date because they have been delayed in everything that they have done,” Kilhart replied.
Editor’s note:A previous version of this report misquoted Parks and Rec commissioner Bob O’Shea as saying the commission sought a bylaw that would grant it jurisdiction for all the town’s athletic fields. What O’Shea said was that the commission sought to clarify jurisdiction, not necessarily to own it.
